Tuesday, January 31, 2012

AboutthePosition

Machine Science is seeking undergraduate students for paid after-school intern positions in the Boston Public Schools.

As an after-school intern, you will work with a small group of enthusiastic middle school or high school students to complete fun, hands-on engineering projects, such as water rockets, balsa wood gliders, model bridges, and mobile robots.

The after-school programs meet one day per week for 90 minutes (generally starting between 1:45PM and 2:30PM, depending on the school). Working closely with a classroom teacher, you will assist students with their projects and help lead short discussions about engineering and technology.

Several positions are available, starting immediately and continuing until May 2012. All school locations are easily accessible by public transportation.

The compensation is $25 per after-school session. A minimum commitment of 8 sessions is required, and up to 20 sessions may be available between now and May 2012.

Responsibilities

To be an after-school intern, you must be willing to:

·Travel to the school once a week

·Spend at least 90 minutes at the school site

·Assist teachers with leading projects and discussions

Qualifications

Candidates should have the following qualifications:

·Interest in working with students in grades 5 to 12

·Strong verbal communication skills

·Confidence with basic construction techniques

Technology/engineering experience is helpful, but not required.

AbouttheSchools

Positions are available at six schools during the 2011-2012 academic year:

Monday, January 23, 2012

WGBH Time to Invent Club: An afterschool club new to the Curley K-8 School (in JP, off the 39 bus) this year, the Time to Invent club, is a team of afterschool staff and mentors (professionals and college students with backgrounds in science and engineering). Mentors lead activities and introduce kids to invention and technical careers, based on a pre-set curriculum. The program, supported by NU graduates, will run in the spring semester on Thursday afternoons each week, beginning in February.

Engineering Field trips: The Center for STEM Education runs on campus engineering field trips on campus for Boston students grades 4-6. Our hands-on field trips cover topics such as renewable energy, biomechanics, river pollution and rockets. We need a few extra hands on deck for our upcoming field trips this semester. Volunteers are welcome to join us for all or part of the field trips, working in small groups asking students questions about what they're learning and making sure they understand the activity and related concepts, and supervising lunch time. Dates: February 3, March 2, March 23, March 30, April 13, 8:30-1:30pm

Science Classrooms: Volunteers are requested to help a Curley School (in JP off the 39 bus) elementary science teacher facilitate her lessons during school time. You will help her prep materials, work with students in smallb groups and deliver certain parts of lessons. Volunteers are especially needed in January to help students prepare for their science fair. Times and days are flexible, and can be worked out with the teacher.

Citizen Schools: Citizen Schools partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for low-income children across the country. They use a second shift of afternoon educators, who provide academic support, leadership development, and "apprenticeships"—hands-on learning activities taught by volunteers. WHO? Approximately 15 middle school students in 6, 7 or 8th grade-- all eager to learn from you! WHAT? Teach STEM activities. WHEN? 90 minutes each week for 12 weeks on a weekday afternoon in the fall or spring, culminating in a WOW! presentation. Roughly 1-2 hours planning and preparing for your session each week. WHERE? Orchard Gardens K-8, a 15 minute walk from campus, Wednesday afternoons

One-day opportunities on and near campus

- Building Bridges—Sat, February 4—Volunteers are needed to help with registration and supervise activities during high school bridge-building competition

- BESS Pre-college Initiative Day—Fri, Feb 17—Volunteers are needed to lead and engage groups of Boston 10th- 12th grade students learning about engineering and college life

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

If you have dreamed of joining the Astronaut Corps, now is the time to apply. NASA is continuing space exploration programs that will include missions beyond low Earth orbit

NASA is seeking applicants for its next class of astronaut candidates who will support long-duration missions to the International Space Station and future deep space exploration activities.

The first U.S. astronauts were selected in 1959, before human spaceflight operations began. NASA asked the military services to provide a list of personnel who met specific qualifications. After stringent screening, NASA announced its selection of seven men, all pilots, as the first American astronauts. NASA has selected 20 more groups of astronauts since the “Original Seven.” The backgrounds of NASA’s previous groups of astronaut candidates include schoolteachers, doctors, scientist, and engineers.

NASA selects astronauts from a diverse pool of applicants with a wide variety of backgrounds. From the thousands of applications received, only a few are chosen for the intensive Astronaut Candidate training program. Including the “Original Seven”, only 330 astronauts have been selected to date.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The following positions are available as volunteer, work-study or paid work, depending on experience.

Field Trip Help

The Center for STEM Education is looking for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors who are interested in a part-time job helping us run field trips on campus for Boston students grades 4-6. Our hands-on field trips cover topics such as renewable energy, biomechanics, river pollution and rockets. We need a few extra hands on deck for our upcoming field trips this semester (six Friday's throughout the semester, generally 9am-1pm) and occasional office support to help us refine curriculum and gather materials.

This position will be 5-8 hours on field trip weeks this semester, with the potential to develop into a more regular position in the future.

The Center for STEM Education is looking for experienced tutors to help 8th graders with Algebra furing after school time. Hired students will be trained in algebra tutoring strategies and supported by the Center for STEM Education. The program runs after school Monday-Thursday, tutors must be consistently available at least two afternoons each week.

Welcome to the Center for STEM Education's K-12 Outreach Blog!

WHO WE ARE: The Center for STEM Education is a Northeastern center focused on increasing opportunities and awareness in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields for students, especially those from backgrounds currently underrepresented in these careers. We work closely with our community to accomplish this goal, and have many volunteer opportunities both on campus and in the schools and communities in which we work.
VOLUNTEERING: Whether you are passionate about enhancing math and science education for K-12 students, want to get more involved in your community, or just want to fulfill some required volunteer hours, you've come to the right place! Read about our upcoming volunteer opportunities in the blog below, and then click on the link for the event in the right-hand column to register. We offer both ongoing and one-day volunteer opportunities, and new events are being added all of the time. We encourage you to also use this blog to discuss your current service experiences with other students at NU!

We also encourage you to refer to the resources provided to gain a deeper understanding of your role as a volunteer and the community that you will be serving.